Weather and sea conditions have been fairly cooperative this past week. If you don't mind dark, cold mornings and blustery afternoon winds, fishing in the Monterey Bay is just fine, thank you very much.

Following the trend from the past few weeks, fishing for rockfish and lingcod remains the priority for most local anglers. The fish are shifting locations, however, so you may need to do some looking before you get into a good bite. Ed Burrell at Capitola Boat and Bait reports lower numbers of fish brought in by individual anglers, but the quality of the catch is on the rise. Burrell himself returned to the Capitola Wharf on Tuesday with a gigantic 7.5-pound Vermilion he caught "just outside of South Rock." He was using whole squid on a halibut rig, fishing near the bottom.
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South Rock and the reefs around and outside the Mile Buoy have been producing decent catches of rockfish this week, while the 90-120 foot reefs around Natural Bridges have slowed down considerably. Winter is the time of year lingcod come in the shallows for spawning, and there are plenty on the bite in most areas. You may have to practice catch and release for a while to get a keeper however. Many of the lings hooked are undersized, not meeting the 22-inch minimum size. Burrell hooked seven lings on Tuesday before he reached his two-"keeper" limit.

With the 60-foot Velocity, Ken Stagnaro can quickly and comfortably reach good fishing spots further up the coast. Last Saturday, Stagnaro worked the reefs in the Davenport area with very good results for his clients. "Cod Fishing was solid with real good quality bottom fish. We had some monster reds, nice size blacks, a 10-pound cabezone and 3 ling keepers. Limits for everyone." Stagnaro reminds us that rockfish season ends on December 31 this year, so get your trip in now, before it's too late.

Dungeness crab are still on the crawl in our area. Most of the commercial crabbers are working north of Santa Cruz, but there are still plenty of sport pots in 140-220 feet of water. The trap lines are especially congested straight out of the Harbor and North towards Three-Mile Beach. Most anglers are reporting good results from their pots, though the catch rate is a bit slower this week compared to the opening weeks of the season. Luckily, it's a long season, and we should enjoy tasty Dungeness for months to come.